GRAND RAPIDS — Take a look at Medical Mile and you will see much of Rick Rickson’s handiwork.

The highlight of his 22 years with Spectrum Health was overseeing the construction of the Meijer Heart Center and Lemmen-Holton Cancer Pavilion along Michigan Street, as well as the tunnel linking the facility to Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital.

Mr. Rickson liked the soft touches in these glass and concrete structures, designed to offer an oasis of comfort to patients, like the waterfall in the pavilion’s lobby and the heart center’s sixth floor healing garden.

“He knew how important the environment was in the healing process,” said Lon Morrisson, Spectrum’s director of facility planning, design and construction.

Mr. Rickson spent the last 18 months of his life appreciating those buildings through the eyes of a patient. He received treatment for colon cancer at Lemmen Holton, and he died Sunday at the Meijer Heart Center. He was 58.

“When he was diagnosed, he almost felt this sense of confidence because he was going to be taken care of by the best in this world-class facility,” recalls his son, John Rickson, 25.

During his treatment, Mr. Rickson was part patient and part unofficial ambassador for Lemmen Holton. He would tell patients and staff about the building’s special features from high-tech machinery to the artwork intended to boost someone’s spirit.

“He knew that building better than the back of his hand,” said his daughter, Sara Haas, 29.

He watched the construction of the new Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital across the street from a balcony garden of the Lemmen-Holton building where he received his chemotherapy treatments.

John experienced his father’s world for three summers when he worked as a construction laborer on the heart center.

“I got to feel what he felt,” John Rickson said.

Mr. Rickson’s contribution to Medical Mile is his legacy, said his wife, Sue.

“Every time we go down Michigan Street, we’ll think of him,” she said.

Visitation is 5-8 p.m. today, and the memorial service is 11 a.m. Thursday, with visitation an hour prior, at Reyers North Valley Chapel, 2815 Fuller Ave. NE in Grand Rapids.